Open Roads (2024): When Billionaires Make Indie Games

Ойындар

Annapurna Interactive has had several notable sort-of-indie game releases in the last decade (Outer Wilds, What Remains of Edith Finch), earning them the moniker of "the A24 of gaming". But did you know Annapurna used to be a movie studio that almost went bankrupt, but was saved by the father of Annapurna's founder and tech billionaire Larry Ellison?
~socials~
linktr.ee/nestwr
~sources~
Main source and a great read: naavik.co/digest/annapurna-hollywood-gaming/
By Peabody Awards - Vimeo: Kaitlyn Dever - Peabody Award acceptance for Unbelievable (view archived source), CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=143755567
By Caroline Bonarde Ucci, CC BY 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3323393
www.frandroid.com/services/svod/1455930_prix-netflix-quel-abonnement-choisir-en-mars-2023
www.indiewire.com/features/general/annapurna-faces-bankruptcy-bailout-larry-ellison-1202164196/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison
www.thetimes.co.uk/article/billionaires-hawaiian-playground-creates-housing-shortage-for-families-wbnsh9l63
skydance.com/about/
developer.apple.com/games/
independent-magazine.org/2022/10/22/the-demise-of-mid-budget-cinema/
companiesmarketcap.com/
~chapters~
00:00:00 not much of a review
00:01:40 extortionate price
00:02:26 about Annapurna
00:03:18 nepotism
00:04:06 the Annapurna business model
00:07:16 conclusion

Пікірлер: 22

  • @nestwr
    @nestwrАй бұрын

    So apparently every studio is making disappointingly short games for subscription services now (or at least microsoft, who seem to be in shambles) www.thegamer.com/hellblade-starfield-modern-xbox-strategy/ PS: if you're going to leave hate comments, at least leave short ones, so It's less funny for me when I hide you from the channel

  • @puppershuffle
    @puppershuffleАй бұрын

    It’s very rare I find a video that completely justifies KZread’s latest algorithm shift to recommend videos with

  • @SporecapStella
    @SporecapStellaАй бұрын

    Great video, i took a look at their catalogue after playing Outer Wilds and was dumbfounded by the amount of mid and uninteresting games in their library.

  • @LeonTorek7822
    @LeonTorek7822Ай бұрын

    Firstly, Hey! love to see channels like this that present incredibly videos of this quality and props to you man for the amazing effort you put on these! I understand the perspective in which you are standing, of a corporation calling itself “indie” while basically being funded by one of the richest families in the world and the actual extortionating prices that they have for a single game. Once that said, I feel like annapurna interactive isn’t supposed to be what you are claiming it is, since most of “their” games, aren’t actually theirs, and they just fund and publish them with their names with seemingly close to none creative interaction behind (based on some interviews of the game development of games in their library). So what they basically do is help indie studios have their games gain a little push with either money or publicity (which both help insanely to an indie studio) and as a consequence having an interesting and vastly different library with good games like Solar ash, Outer Wilds, Gorogoa, Florence, Stray, What Remains of Edith Finch, Maquette, And much more, even if they still have some not so good games like Open Roads (already mentioned in the video) each of them have their own take and base themselves on being an experience and sharing a message, basically spending an afternoon on most cases playing a unique game and seeing what other people have to say and try to portray, something that without being on subscription services like PS plus, Gamepass or Apple arcade would be extremely hard to sell or even make a reality.

  • @LeonTorek7822

    @LeonTorek7822

    Ай бұрын

    srry for the yapping lol

  • @BlasterTon
    @BlasterTonАй бұрын

    Yo, I love the idea of a deeper dive into Annapurna and how they go about making their games and the philosophy behind that. I think this video is more about Annapurna than Open Roads and burying the lede is a bit unnecessary here when the Annapurna part is much more interesting. But the reason I'm leaving a comment is because I get worried worried when I hear a blanket statement relating the value of a video game to its price (I am not defending Open Roads or its here, I've never played it). Some of my favorite video games have been really short works and I don't think that their length/price ratio alone is a non-starter. Anyway, great vid, (and lovely film grain) I'd definitely watch a longer deeper dive video in this style. Subscribed

  • @nestwr

    @nestwr

    Ай бұрын

    lmfao there's no film grain, it's just slog3 on an a6300

  • @Faithy2386
    @Faithy238625 күн бұрын

    This is really interesting to me, as I'm actually a big fan of a lot of Annapurna's higher-profile published games like Stray, Edith Finch, and Journey. I haven't really looked into the rest of their catalogue, and this is rather disappointing to see, honestly. I do really like the "big-name indie publisher" brands from a consumer perspective, companies like Devolver Digital give more exposure to smaller projects by having them under a well-known banner, and all of the games i've played from them have been wonderful. I am kind of picky with what games i play, and gravitate towards story-heavy games, visual novels and the like if i'm looking for something new, so i might just be biased idk

  • @BiDisaster327
    @BiDisaster327Ай бұрын

    Ah, because of the thumbnail, I thought you'd talk a bit more about of the mess of rich people ruining the lives of hawaiian people, and somewhat connecting it to "indie" videogames. I can still make the connection in my head on how fucked up that is, but maybe you could've illustrated the point of better, if you were teying to do that. Still, great video and thanks for making it, I'll definetly judge their games much differently after knowing all this

  • @rerxx
    @rerxxАй бұрын

    Very interesting video, thank you for making it! I had no idea about the backing that Annapurna had. I do think your conclusion (that most Annapurna's games are not worth buying) is quite a reach though, I just had a look at Annapurna's catelog on steam, and out of the 31 games published, 17! of them has over 90% positive rating (quite a few over 95%). I don't think those counts are just exceptions when it's over 50%, I don't know of any other publisher with a better record. If they really don't understand games and are just picking them based on aesthetic, then I hope they keep doing that because it's working pretty well. PS: I grant you that most of the games under 90% rating seems to have the same issue Open Roads have, with being terrible value for money.

  • @goldentiramisu7935
    @goldentiramisu7935Ай бұрын

    this screams "if hideo kojima could, so do we" loudly

  • @ApeMD
    @ApeMDАй бұрын

    Legendary find. Glad to be one of the first 100 subs.

  • @lykuned
    @lykunedАй бұрын

    I thought you were a youtuber with many more subscribers. subscribed and keep making more

  • @arenkai
    @arenkaiАй бұрын

    I've worked for a publisher for nearly a decade, and I wasn't aware of that, god damn... It doesn't surprise me though since basically every indie publisher label is bankrolled by other big companies or chinese investment. But where I disagree is on the quality of their games though: Outer Wilds, Cocoon, Neon White, Solar Ash, Kentucky Route Zero, Sayonara Wild Hearts All fantastic games in their own right with a lot of creativity. I'd argue Annapurna is one of the only publishers where if you pick one of their games at random, you have a very good chance of having a unique gaming experience. Sometimes I'd rather spend 2-10h playing something unique than 50h of yet another version of something I've seen before, even if the "time for money" isn't there. I don't want to say "value for money", because to me the value of a game isn't measured in runtime.

  • @ziomeklemona1531
    @ziomeklemona1531Ай бұрын

    bro has the subscribers of a novice but quality of a pro

  • @mojavefry2617
    @mojavefry2617Ай бұрын

    Holy crap, I didn’t even know about any of this. Quite skeezy to call yourselves “indie” when you are suckling off the teats of billionaires.

  • @nestwr

    @nestwr

    Ай бұрын

    It's the classic "parents have blue names on Wikipedia" surprise, except the parents are usually not quite *this* rich.

  • @silverhand861
    @silverhand861Ай бұрын

    Heh, surprised to see this pop up in my feed, but i appreciated the content. Nice little highlight of how entrenched wealth affects all industries... And how people who didn't earn their way up to wealth and connections do lack experience and insights that a business needs. They might get there, but they their trials and errors are a little bigger than i think is good. Also, really not a fan of the blatant lack of artistry on display. Media should have intent beyond just making money. It should convey something that the creators find important, and want to highlight

  • @ramirosilvaalmeida6768
    @ramirosilvaalmeida6768Ай бұрын

    okay so what im about to say is very vibes based, i am not making any definitive or 100% "objective" statements the business model of funding indies that Annapurna shares with other distributors, like Fellow Traveler or Devolver, feels very different, like the criteria for the games they fund is more centered on aesthetics and overall vibes instead of other aspects that relate to the inherent advantages of the medium, maybe that s because of their background as a failed film studio? ehh that might be a stretch honestly, but even so, thats not necessarily bad, the games that Annapurna has funded are some of my favorite games of all time be it Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts , Neon white, etc, however they also make games that range from mid to straight up not worth it, but the thing is that its almost like everyone of the games they publish has such a disconnected sense to a bigger whole that it makes them feel very flavorless as a company, if a game is funded by Devolver, i know theres gonna be some wacky, inventive really clever twist or at least the wider vibe will fit in with the rest of their catalog of games, theres almost no indie publishers like Devolver but the general idea of forming an identity through the games that you fund i think is much more present in other indie publishers Really good video!!!

  • @david.cr96
    @david.cr96Ай бұрын

    This video blew up bro, congrats 🙃 (good video btw)

  • @andrepereira7169
    @andrepereira7169Ай бұрын

    great video, loved it!

  • @cosettapessa6417
    @cosettapessa6417Ай бұрын

    Wow! Subbed, nice video!